Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Hockey Night in Belleville

The final score of
the hockey game last Saturday night was…..unimportant. After all, it was an
exhibition game, and the players are just working out all of the kinks from a
summer away from the game. The Washington
Capitals and the Winnipeg
Jets faced off at the Quinte Sports Centre to the delight of thousands of
hockey fans from the area.

Understandably, the
star of the show was Alexander Ovechkin,the Russian Rocket who has been a star in the NHL since his debut. But
for the hockey fans from the Quinte area, it was also an opportunity to watch
four young players with local roots sporting the NHL jerseys: Edward Pasquale,
Eric Tangradi, Austen Brassard, and Phillip Grubauer. Pasquale played for the Bulls,
as did the others; but he also had a stint with the Wellington Dukes.

Austen Brassard

Edward played 18
games for the Dukes in the 2006-2007 season. He also played for the Belleville Bulls that season, and was traded to the Saginaw Spirit the
following year. He spent three seasons with the Spirit before moving on into
the ranks of professional hockey. His first pro season, in 2011-2012, was split
between the Chicago
Wolves and the Gwinnett Gladiators of the ECHL. We were fortunate to see him in
action in Fort Myers as his Gladiators tangled
with the Florida
Everblades. “Eddie” has been with the St
John’s Ice Caps of the American Hockey League for the
past two seasons.

Eric Tangradi has had
the most experience of all of the former Belleville
Bulls who played Saturday night. He has dressed for 81 NHL games, mostly with
the Penguins. He played 36 games for the Jets last season. After finishing his
OHL career with the Bulls in 2008-2009, he was chosen in the second round of
the draft by the Anaheim
Ducks. He has played for the Penguins and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
for the past four seasons.

A native of RosenheimGermany,
Grubauer played in two seasons for the Bulls, then spent time in Windsor and Kingston
before turning pro. He also tended the twine in the ECHL, with the Carolina Stingrays and the Reading Royals. He played for the Hershey
Bears last year, but also dressed for a couple of games with the Capitals.

Austen Brassard began
his OHL career with the Windsor Spitfires, and
was traded that year to the Belleville
Bulls. He played in four seasons for the Bulls, and was selected by the Jets in
the fifth round of the draft. He is entering his first season of professional
hockey, and is excited about the prospect. “It was great to come back to Belleville, and to play
on the big ice here. I also was happy to visit with my billets here, Anne and
Danny Morrison.”

Tangradi also noted
that he was pleased to visit with his Belleville
family. “I got to hang out with my former billets here-Rob and Irene Cooke-and
it was a lot of fun.”

I spoke with Bulls’
coach George Burnett after the game. He was thrilled to see his former players
in NHL jerseys. “It was tremendous to see four former players on the ice for
the game. They are all trying to break into the NHL, on a permanent basis, and
it is great to see these kids following their dreams. I did have a chance to
talk to the three players with the Jets, but not with Phillip. It was a special
occasion for all of them to re-connect with their billets.”

The game was covered
by the CBC, with Ron MacLean and Don Cherry doing their “Coach’s Corner” during
the intermission. Cherry, a Kingston boy,
referred to the Belleville
McFarlands as “my heroes”. Likely tongue in cheek. In those mid-sixties days,
Cherry and fellow Kingstonians had a bitter rivalry with the Macs. There was no
love lost in those battles with the Aces and the McFarlands.

The final score was
4-3 for the Capitals, as Washington
defenceman Mike Green beat Ed Pasquale in the shootout. As I said, completely
irrelevant.